Silent Mobius
by Shadow Remix
Summary: A flash of light, and the the world that both Sonic and Shadow once knew has all but turned upside down, and inside out. What becomes of Shadow? Better yet... where the hell is he, and where is Sonic? Will they both find a way out... if Sonic is alive?
1. Today's Forcast

**_**

**"Was it life I betrayed for the shape that I'm in?"  
>~Cold: Year of the Spider –Wasted Years-~<br>_**

**Chapter 1: Today's Forecast, Cloudy with a Chance of Pink Rage**

There was always something in the air. Granted the person standing out on the cliff at this moment couldn't tell what it was, but it felt as if something was calling out to him. It was like that all the time though, and it never happened anywhere else but here on the edge of this cliff overlooking the entirety of Christmas Island, his birthplace.

"Why can't I ever figure out what you're trying to say?" The spiny creature closed his eyes, feeling the breeze kick up. It ruffled through his quills, a feeling he found most exhilarating even when he ran at speeds most people still couldn't comprehend. In brushing past his ear he thought he heard it speak to him, "Huh? What was that?" His eyes kept shut and stepped forward, listening to the wind.

"Yooooour deestiiiny is with the piiiink hoorrrrror." It seemed to speak out, this time ever clearer than before. He had to admit though it was kind of freaky to finally be able to hear something. At least he wasn't truly crazy, and would have to bring someone up here to see if they could hear it. The only thing that really bothered him was the fact that the wind seemed to speak of a different nature, someone he would much rather not go within a thousand miles of.

The air began to blow harder; the same words apparently said once more, "Yooour deeeeestiiiiiny is with the piiiiink hoooorrrrror." Then the air around him continued to blow, but he could no longer feel the wind on his face. The hedgehog opened his emerald eyes to find a set of blue ones staring at him, and that's when the hedgehog lost all color in his quills for just a split second.

"DEAR MOBIUS!" He fell backwards, landing on his ass. As he got up and rubbed the area he turned around to find a two tailed fox laughing on the ground, the idea of scaring his friend going as planned. He knew it was just a joke, but he was pissed for the simple fact that he could've easily fallen off of the cliff, even though he probably would've ran down it, but still the thought irked him, "ARE YOU TRYING TO GET ME KILLED?"

The kitsune, still laughing his ass off, tried to speak while slamming his fist into the ground, "Y-yo-y hahahaha! S-Sonic, y-you should've seen the look on y-your face!" He couldn't stop, going so far as to literally cry, kicking his feet to add more fuel the fire. If it wasn't for the simple fact that he was an iconic brother to the hedgehog in front of him, still rubbing his ass from the rocks that he landed on, then he probably would've been thrown over that very cliff he was on right about now.

The hedgehog finally managed to brush himself off, making sure that anything he landed on wasn't already embedded into his aching ass. He turned once more to the kitsune and walked over to him, "You know… this isn't funny. One of these days your little schemes to scare me are going to go too far." He picked the little one up, and set him on his feet, "I realize I told you to get some time off from your inventions, but please don't do that to me again."

His intentions were just to scare his supposed brother, and he never meant any harm by it either, "I'm sorry, b-but… hehe… you have to admit… hahaha…. The look on your face was priceless. If only I had a camera to mark the occasion of when I finally scared you half to death." It was actually sort of an accomplishment, because the hedgehog never really ever seemed to get scared, but a lot had been on the hedgehog's mind lately which caused him to let his guard down. He had something on his mind that seemed to be jumping out at him, nitpicking at his brain, a dream that he'd been having for the past month or so, and one that always ended up in a nightmare.

It always started out the same, a stormy day fighting a giant mech, possibly another one of Eggman's diabolical creations. The upper hand seemingly in his favor at first, and then tables turned in split seconds when the pilot's scheme finally came into fruition. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but the dream would stop, allowing him to walk around in it for just a few seconds. He could see himself, Amy, Tails, and a few others he recognized, but some of the other figures were shadowed and blurred, as if he wasn't supposed to know who they were.

The dream would then continue from its short pause, a bright light emanating from the front of the doctor. At that moment he thought he could see himself bathed in a golden light, most likely from him using the Chaos Emeralds, and getting ready to take down the pilot of the mech right then and there. Then the dream would turn south, and he would feel excruciating pain as he would see a bright flash of white light. The last thing he would see was darkness, the world turning black.

It was this very nightmare that had been haunting him, and granted he wasn't one for superstitions of any sort, but he felt as if it was a sign of things to come. He would always shake it out of his head, thinking nothing of it, but eventually the nightmare would come back more than a few times a day, reminding him that it was still perfectly present. If only he knew the real importance of it, and acted upon it to go see Knuckles then he might know what it would all mean for both the future of Mobius, and himself.

As he was walking back with the kitsune in tow, he walked right into another nightmare that came into his life, the horrifying pink ball of fur known to everyone as Amy Rose. She, like so many other people, LOVED Sonic, and would beat the hell out of anyone who tried to take him away from her. She truthfully believed that she was his stalke… I mean… girlfriend, and took that title to a whole new level upon which no one could comprehend.

"SONIC! I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU EVERYWHERE!" She screeched at the top of her lungs obviously either pissed, or happy about something, he couldn't tell which. Her incessant walking, more like marching as if she were part of the Waffen SS, towards him said she was pissed, and that meant not only hell for him, but for those around him. It was at this point that she finally decided to reveal what she was apparently pissed about as she poked her victi… boyfriend… in the chest, "YOU FORGOT ABOUT OUR LUNCH DATE AGAIN! What were you doing! Don't tell me you and Tails were out doing something productive! You and I both know that's a lie!"

The kitsune rolled his eyes, and spoke under his breath, "Gee, why don't you go bungee jumping off that cliff… without the cord. Then we can measure how high Mobians bounce?" It was a bad idea to speak under his breath, because he was never very good at hiding it.

"What was that?" She had heard something from the two tailed fox, and hoped he would repeat it again, yet that didn't happen because the fear she put into the kitsune when she was pissed shut him up fairly well. It wasn't the first time she put the fear of the Chaos Gods into people minds, but there would be a point as to when it would be her last. When that point would be no one knew.

Sonic diffused the situation by simply shrugging, taking her arm, and weaving it through his. This was never something he would do, but he just couldn't let the kitsune take a verbal beating like that. Just when he thought things couldn't get worse, she smiled and rested her head on his shoulder as they walked, at that moment he knew he was going to need a shower just to get every bit of the essence of certified stalker off of him. For the moment though he would have to endure it, because she obviously didn't care what she was saying just a moment ago now that she was happy he made a move without her saying anything.

As they walked along, Sonic felt a small nudge on his arm, and slightly turned his head to see Tails mouthing the words, 'Thank you.' He in return gave a wink, and smiled knowing full well that if he hadn't moved in to endure allowing Amy to snuggle into him that there would be a brand new rug in his house, and he'd be the only one to have one that came with two tails. If that wasn't the worst way to go, then the hedgehog didn't know what else could qualify.

They were all about to walk peacefully, if just for a moment, until the sound of something crashing interrupted it. In the back of his mind the blue blur immediately thought, 'Oh please dear Mobius let it be Eggman, if just this once let him actually be doing something destru…' That thought was cut off when he realized exactly where the sound of the crash came from, his home.

Yes, it's very true. Sonic had gotten nostalgic and somehow managed to get the only house on Christmas Island with Tails. Not that it mattered, but he was happy to have his house where he was born. Barely anyone came to the island, so that meant that no one bothered him… well… except for the brainless, raging hammer queen. Other than that things were always quiet, and that's the way he liked it.

As soon as they rounded the concrete walls leading up to the lawn of the newly refurbished home overlooking the Christmas Island Bay, the three of them got a good look at what was going on. A new hole had been placed in the front wall of the house, a decent sized one too. What was also noticed was that it wasn't so much an object had passed through it, but a who. More specifically that person just happened to be Knuckles, dazed, but completely laid flat on the rubble with Rouge kneeling right beside him. The only other person there other than those two was Shadow, and if Sonic had to guess he would bet his money that the guardian just got his ass handed to him by the ebony hedgehog.

"You just couldn't leave him well enough alone could you? All you had to do was wait until Sonic got here and then this whole ord…" Rouge looked up just as she was about to finish that statement, "Well if it isn't the blue boy himself. If he asks who did this then don't be surprised when I blame you." She looked back at Knuckles before slapping him awake, watching him come back around.

"Anyone get the number of that truck that ran me over, because I want to use that truck on a certain bastard in front of me." Knuckles sat up and glared at the ultimate life form, ready to get revenge for the beating he just took. He knew he would never get that chance though, because he almost never saw Shadow, so this would be one of the few times they would go at it.

"Hmph, now I know why Sonic does all the work during your fights with Eggman, because you're useless." If there was one thing Shadow was good at it was finding just the right insult to rub into the already gaping wounds he inflicted. Granted it was a normal thing for everyone around him, but for some reason Sonic never had the courtesy of being on the receiving end of that before.

It didn't take long for the leech hanging off of his arm to detach herself to try and beat the ever loving crap out of both Knuckles, and Shadow, "What… in the hell… did you do… to our… HOUSE!" In an instant it was as if her hammer had come out of nowhere, slamming itself on the ground in front of her. If you couldn't see the shock wave on the ground, then you most certainly felt it, and if there was a sun at that point then it was definitely out shined by the fire produced in the orbs of a pink fur ball.

Tails walked up next to Shadow, "So exactly what is going on here? What did we miss while we were gone?" He was always the curious type, but at the same time he made sure he was up to speed on everything just in case he might be needed.

The G.U.N. agent turned his back to the kitsune, as well as the hero of Mobius. Mostly because he didn't feel like facing anyone at this point, but because there was something strange going on, and he thought it was almost as if this had happened before. He shrugged off the notion that there was any possibility that this could've really been done and began to walk away. It didn't take long before someone stopped him though, and it wasn't Amy either.

"You came here for a reason other than to fight Knuckles and to destroy my house. If you wanted to race me you would've just insulted me too." Sure Sonic was pissed about his house, but he could fix that in no time flat. There was something nipping away at the back of his mind, and he wanted to see if he was right, "So, why did you come here? And don't say it was because you wanted me to speak with Knuckles either."

The Ebony hedgehog sighed, crossed his arms, and closed his eyes, "G.U.N. has information that regards this island. It may be destroyed very soon, but we haven't a clue as to how soon. From what they can discern Eggman is building yet another war mech. This one however seems to be powered by something of a different stature, and it's not Chaos Emeralds either." He opened his eyes, now starting into emerald ones, "It also seems that this power he will be using is self sustaining."

The flattened Echidna got up off his ass finally and brushed himself off. His ears perked at hearing of a 'self sustaining' power source. It had been said through some of the legends he knew that there was such a power only given by the Chaos Gods themselves. He couldn't even remember the last time anyone had ever mentioned such a thing.

"G.U.N. has also determined that if this power source were to be used against anyone, then they in turn would become that power source." It was a theory that shocked Knuckles. In fact, everyone seemed to notice the guardian turn pale, "I'm guessing he knows exactly what I mean."

He did indeed know exactly what Shadow meant, and it was scaring him, "There was a legend once that told of such a power. It's been said that from the sky came a blessing and it would only show its true power through the storm of destruction. In the moments of fate a light will shine bright. Should that power fade, so too would the brightest of lights in the dark." He finished the legend only to look up at speechless faces.

It was then that Sonic walked up to the guardian and pulled him aside. He began to speak in a low tone so that only Knuckles would be able to hear it, but he was never one for keeping things quiet anyway. When the hero began to tell him of his dream he started to yell, "And you couldn't tell me sooner!"

Rouge, Amy, and Tails just kept looking between Shadow, Knuckles, and Sonic. They were uncertain as to exactly what was going on, who knew what, or why anything was being kept from them at this moment, but they knew that it was bad news. Bad news always created the inevitable presence of Eggman.

It was at this point that Shadow turned around and stared at the guardian and the speed demon, "If you two are done with your lover's quarrel, then I have more to add. The last thing I have left to mention is the fact that Eggman's war mech has the capability to alter its environment. Essentially you could be fighting on a stable ground, and then suddenly you're fighting on molten hot lava. Whether or not he can change the weather though is something I have yet to get an update on."

Rouge walked up and started to yell at Shadow, because she was never informed of such a thing, and she was the source of his information. It was at this point that Tails tried to separate the two of them, his intentions were to diffuse the situation, but he was swatted away. Amy didn't like it when people where pushed to the side when they were only trying to help, and ending up smashing her hammer in between the two, only causing the white bat to glare at the annoying, psychotic ball of pink fur.

Sonic and Knuckles just stared at each other and smiled, "So Knux, I need a chili dog or two. Feel like grabbin' something to eat inside?" He began to walk in, and Knuckles just followed with his hands behind his head. They didn't have a care in the world, and the fight outside certainly didn't faze them either.

With all the fighting, and the other two not caring about the situation, no one noticed the ever darkening clouds on the horizon. The sparks of light flowing through them unnaturally, a force that could never be created by Mobius itself, kept hitting one singular black speck as it crept forward. The black spec was creeping forward ever so slowly, its occupant silently laughing to himself from the safety of his piloting chair.

"By nightfall those fools will never know what hit them, and when they finally figure it out…"

He began to break out into a maniacal laughter,

"… it'll already be too late."  
>_<p> 


	2. Silent Mobius

**"It's not hard to fail… It's not easy to win"  
>~Cold: Year of the Spider –Wasted Years-~<br>_**

**Chapter 2: Silent Mobius**

Sonic couldn't stand the shrieking voice of the pink fuzz ball that was forcing Knuckles and Shadow to rebuild the section of wall that they had destroyed. The Ultimate Life-form didn't want anything to do with such primitive ways of reconstructing an inferior material like housing structure, as he found it quite defenseless from a combative point of view. The Guardian didn't like it either, but he'd much rather rebuild the damn wall then take a beating from the giant hammer hovering over his head. Eventually though Shadow began to use his chaos power and made things go a hell of a lot faster. Within an hour, it would've been much less had the ebony hedgehog helped out from the start; it looked as if nothing had happened to the wall at all.

"That'll teach you two to go destroying OUR property." By 'OUR' property she really meant Sonic's property since he was the sole owner, but she could care less since she still seemed to consider herself his mate. Sometimes she wondered if he was just hard to get, but other times she had the feeling he didn't really care about her at all. To her that made the game a little more fun, and knew she would have to try her damndest to get him to see the love she had for him.

As soon as Shadow got back inside the doorway he stopped, slightly turning his head to barely see the world. It was getting darker as the sun went down, but it was ever darker as the clouds slowly passed overhead. These clouds however didn't seem to move at all, but that could've just been an illusion. "What clouds never move?" He thought to himself. The G.U.N. agent shrugged it off and went back inside, tracking soil back into the house, a bad idea.

If there were words to describe the level of pain that had ensued after he entered the house, then he didn't know what they were. He didn't even see her coming, her movements silent if not shadowed by the talking and laughter in the living room. He thought he could hear a slight movement to his left, and when he turned his head he only saw the shadows created by the ever fading daylight. As soon as the first hover shoe stepped into the living room, Sonic looked up and could only say what first came to his mind.

"Hey Shadow, how's that splitting headache of yours?"

The hedgehog didn't even understand what was going on until he turned around to find a giant hammer smashed into his face, "Didn't you learn from the wall you busted? Clean up your mess! Don't make me have you clean this entire house from top to bottom!" Amy left the hammer embedded on her intended victim's face, obviously wanting him to feel the sheer pain of his actions.

Tails couldn't help but spit out his drink as he saw Shadow get smashed to bits by the single stroke of Amy's destructive force. He burst into laughing, tears forming in his eyes. What made it even more hilarious for him was the fact that the hammer seemed to slowly slide off of the other's face, dropping on the ground with a large thump, and denting the wooden floor. For the second time in that day the young scientist got another great laugh.

It was at this point that the ebony pancake turned to face the kitsune, ready to show him exactly what that hammer felt like. The one thing he knew he shouldn't do was pick up the hammer, but he was ready to do so anyway just so he could make an entirely new species of fox. Just as he was about to touch the hammer there was a bright flash and then a resounding boom outside.

The storm that was on the horizon earlier this morning had certainly made good time moving across Mobius. It was quite unusual to have a storm this far out from the main land, but none the less it was always welcome to the island. As the rain pelted off the roof, and the lightning flashed through the sky, the power went out. Tails was the first to get up to go over to the basement door until Sonic stopped him, "Tails, just leave the generator alone. If we really need it, then we'll turn it on." It was odd for the hedgehog to do such a thing, but he actually would rather like to sit in silence for once and listen to everything around him.

This was certainly surprising to Tails and everyone else, since the hero was always the one to suggest leaving the generator on. At first he thought that Sonic was insane, but then again he kind of figured that maybe the hedgehog was trying to get used to the storm so that if anything came around in the future he would be used to them. Granted it was certainly a change of pace, but the passing thought that maybe Sonic enjoyed the rain was something new to everyone there.

It was much, much different for the hero though. He had closed his eyes and actually tried to relive the same nightmare he'd been having. As the world around him started to fade another bolt of lightning struck the ground on the island, practically at the same time that one had gone off in his nightmare. This shifted the balance of reality, his nightmare now becoming more real to him than ever before…

He was standing beside Knuckles, who had been badly injured to the point of which he was definitely out of the fight. Amy was some yards away, running up to a huge machine with her hammer. Tails was on the ground this time tending to one of his appendages, deciding to stay with the others and work on a basic strategy to find a weak spot in their enemy. Rouge decided to go into the air, trying to use her abilities to dent the armor of the war machine. Both she and Amy had failed to do so when the armature of the mech swatted Rouge out of the sky with such force that when she slammed into the pink hedgehog they were thrown back several hundred feet and into the side of a rock face.

The hero saw that Shadow was closing his eyes while murmuring something just before another bright flash of light had crossed his vision, and then the Ultimate Life-Form was gone. Sonic didn't know where he went, but he knew this was a nightmare, and eventually the ebony hedgehog had to come back. At least that's what he was hoping for.

Tails pulled his friend aside, his mouth moving, but no words came out. 'Odd,' the hedgehog thought, 'Tails never spoke to me in this nightmare before, and Shadow never disappeared either.' Something was amiss in his dream world, and he couldn't figure out why it was all changing so suddenly. This couldn't be the same nightmare, it just couldn't be.

Sonic turned his face away from Tails to find a glowing light in front of their foe. It was uncertain at this point when the light had appeared, but for right now he couldn't see if it was Shadow, himself, or a weapon. The only thing he could clearly discern through the bright light looked like a giant power source. It was almost as if it looked like…

*************************************************************************************

"Sonic wake up, we have to move!" Tails was shaking his friend awake, trying to get him out of the house before another bolt of lightning struck it. The hedgehog slowly opened his eyes to see that half the house had been missing already and soon it would engulf him if he didn't get out of there. Just as they both moved out of the way a large section of the house collapsed right behind them causing a chain reaction within the house. Honestly it was as if the house were waiting for Sonic to wake up and get out of there before it collapsed, trying to keep him alive.

Sonic knew that if he used his speed then Tails would be bouncing off the charred walls. He had to literally do what he hated most and take it slow. It was actually a good thing he did so too because the entire house falling apart. Pieces would land in front of him, chunks from the ceiling and banister crashing down with such force that if either of them had been hit they would've surely died.

What seemed like an hour to them maneuvering through the house to get out actually took no more than mere seconds. As soon as they got out of the hellish building they turned around to see it burn just a little longer before the fire finally died out. Only a quarter of the house had remained, that's not to include the basement where Tails spent most of his time. Hopefully all his inventions were safe, because most of them could be put to use in recreating the place where both he and Sonic called home.

Tails looked around to see if everyone made it out, making a mental note of who exactly was there at the time, 'Amy, Knuckles, Rouge, Sonic, myself, and…' the young scientist looked around, and saw that Shadow was missing. He put his age old nickname to use and wound up his appendages allowing him to fly into the air. He knew it would be a bad idea to do so in this storm, but Shadow was missing, and the thought that their house crushed someone couldn't get out of his mind. Yeah Shadow was an asshole, but Tails didn't want the shame of having his house crush someone they had managed to turn from evil.

"Tails what are you doing up there! Come down here before you get hurt!" Amy, oddly enough, was the one shouting at him. She was usually the first to scold him for such a thing, but apparently the shock of almost losing some of their friends was too much, and didn't want to lose anyone. If she had taken a look around she would've realized that Shadow was missing.

He just kept flying looking around for any sigh of the dark hedgehog. He got more than he bargained for when said hedgehog flew through the air and almost hit him. The Ultimate Life-Form just barely hit the ground when he quickly disappeared from his chaos control. It was then that Tails saw him reappear in front of a large dark figure on the plateau overlooking part of the island.

"Guys, something is going on up there and Shadow is involved!" The moment the kitsune had said that Knuckles and Sonic were on their way up to see what was going on. A fight on the island was bad enough, but something that could throw Shadow half way across it… that was a fight to be had.

By the time they got up there the ebony hedgehog had been thrown in their direction once again, instead of falling off the plateau he smashed right into a rock with a blood curdling, bone crunching noise. He had been thrown so hard in fact that the rock he smashed into broke in two, pieces of it sheering of completely as it split down the middle. If he wasn't down and out for the count, then he would be fighting while in pain beyond imaginable measure.

Knuckles was the first to get up the plateau, laying eyes on the shadowed giant before them. He couldn't figure out exactly what it was up until a flash of chain lightning flared through the sky. It was Eggman; even though they couldn't see the pilot through the shaded glass his face was still etched into the chest plate of what looked to be an age old war mech. The only problem with this was the age old part, because this was a machine that had been long since destroyed while still in its construction phase.

Without thinking the guardian ran forward with his fists prepared, ready to strike the war mech. As soon as he got within the machine's striking distance he was thrown aside by a massive left hook. Knuckles rolled across the ground as if he were a marble until he managed to get a grip on a random spot and stop himself.

The air in the area suddenly became very thin, and that's when Tails realized what was about to happen, "Lightning Bolt incoming!" The very bolt of lightning he just warned everyone about sailed through the air from the sky and came so close to Tails that one of his appendages managed to get scorched. No matter how much you can predict an enemies movements or attacks, the pain after is something you can never prepare for, and that's what he felt as he dropped out of the sky faster than Rudolph outside of a hunting lodge.

Amy had a bright idea at this point (Oh great… the pink ball of fur suitable for punting has a brilliant idea. Quick, someone call a scientist to test her IQ!) and ran forward with her metallic hammer. Now as everyone knows metal is a conductor of electricity, and most electricity will flow through the conductor first if it's in front of its intended target, this would make her completely stupid at his point. However she had a better idea, and when she saw a flash cross her eyes, she threw her hammer at the giant as the bolt of lightning meant for her hit the hammer. What she didn't expect was a second bolt of lightning stopping the hammer and sending it back towards her. She managed to barely get hit and immediately dropped to the ground from the aftershock of what had almost become of her.

Rouge and Sonic remembered in all their years of fighting Eggman's contraptions that one must wait for an opening before striking. Shadow knew this too, but if that opening were closely guarded then they were screwed. All they could do right now was sit and wait as Amy and Knuckles beat themselves to a pulp.

The white bat thought she saw an opening and took a chance, moving into the air swiftly. She had an advantage due to the fact that the faster she came down the more G forces she had behind her physical ability, which meant that her kicks made a harder impact. Her disadvantage here was her flight, as she could be struck down at any time from any spot in the sky. She knew this all too well, and the moment that opening presented itself she acted upon it driving everything she had into a spinning kick. Rouge closed her eyes and focused every bit of energy she had to make herself a smaller target, falling faster and faster, but what she didn't count on was the ability of the pilot being able to see her moves before she even had time to think of them. In a bright flash another bolt of lightning struck the war mech, and it moved with the swiftness of the very lightning it had conjured smashing its giant arm into Rouge.

As the bat was thrown clear across the plateau into the ground Sonic made his move, only slightly catching the pilot of the mech off guard by a fraction of a second, allowing him to dent a piece of the armor. That dent was all that was needed for everyone to see a bright green light of a power source within. It was this power source that Shadow spoke of earlier in the day, and it just had to be the very weak point that Rouge was aiming for. Now all they had to do was come up with a plan, but with everyone injured it would have to take everything they had just to take the thing down.

The mech stopped and turned to Shadow, lowering its arms. It shifted its weight and then it finally spoke. This time the pilot used voice enhancements to mask himself, sounding like the very mech he was piloting, "You'll never win! I've come here to put an end to you once and for all!" If the pilot had paid attention then he would've noticed that Sonic was speeding towards him, smashing into the mech with such force that the plate protecting the power source finally cracked and fell off.  
>A bright light emanated from the chest of the mech, almost blinding everyone in the process. Knuckles was the first to see it, and upon looking at the power source he face palmed. Just after he had done so everyone else got a good look at the power source, to include Rouge, "So… Mr. Guardian… guess we figured out what the 'self-sustaining' power source is. How many times does that make it now… six?"<p>

The power source was the Master Emerald, which would account for the sheer size of the mech in front of them. Its speed could also be explained by the Master Emerald as well, since its power was coursing through it. What couldn't be explained was how the weather was being controlled by the mech, because it couldn't be just from the Master Emerald itself.

Shadow affixed his gaze, a plan starting to form in his head, and he closed his eyes. He didn't know exactly how he was going to do it, but he knew that he could get the Master Emerald back at whatever cost. As he stood there he could feel the air around the plateau go thin once again, a sign that told him what was about to happen.

Rouge tried her strategy once again now that she saw what Sonic was doing. If she could get someone else to distract the old war machine then she would be able to disable it without destroying the Master Emerald. Then as she began her attack her mind wandered, she began to think about how to steal the giant rock when everyone would be celebrating, and a wandering mind in battle is always a bad thing.

The raging hammer queen finally got up, retrieving her hammer from the rock face. Hefting the giant hammer she ran forward towards the giant war machine. Just as she was about to get within striking distance Rouge was once again thrown from the air, crashing into her. They rolled a few hundred feet towards a rock face, slamming into the side of it. They were hurt to the point of being out for the count, but they were still conscious that much was certain.

A flash frame passed through Sonic's head, 'I've seen this before, which means… oh no.' He turned to see Shadow standing up, his eyes closed, murmuring under his breath. The hero of Mobius tried to say something, but before he could a flash of bright light blinded him for a split second. When his vision cleared Shadow was gone.

Tails didn't have time to look at Shadow disappearing, but had enough time to get out chaos emeralds. He only had about two of them, but they reacted as if all seven were in the vicinity. It was actually quite odd really, because in order for them to be empowered they all had to be present. If they were being nullified then they wouldn't react. The only logical explanation was the other five were close by.  
>"Sonic, use them and see what happens. It's the best shot we have at this point." The young one was right, and in that moment Sonic took both emeralds, using them as if he had all seven around him. If reacting to having all seven there was freaky, than actually using them would be an even bigger shock.<p>

The emeralds flew into the air, dragging Sonic along with them. They centered the hedgehog in front of the giant metallic beast, taunting it. Just when he thought it was hopeless, Sonic saw a figure appear right next to him with five other emeralds, "Don't think you're going to have all the fun hedgehog." Shadow floated there, letting go of the emeralds so their power could flow through the both of them.

"Oh not a chance Faker, like I could let you miss out on all the fun." Just as he said that, the power from the emeralds began to take effect, their bodies becoming enriched with Chaos energy. They slowly started to change, fur becoming a different color, eyes changing, and auras resonating from their very bodies.

The pilot of the mech began to use the power of the Master Emerald to make the air thin once again, which meant that another lightning bolt was about to be conjured. It wouldn't take long to charge the air, and the pilot knew he had mere seconds before the changes of the Chaos Emeralds finalized on the hedgehogs.

Just as everyone thought the air couldn't get any thinner… it did. It got so thin that it became harder for almost everyone to breathe. For just a moment the heroes thought they could hear a hum coming from their enemy, its point of charging apparently at its maximum.

The very second that both Sonic and Shadow had changed into their new forms the brightest flash that anyone on that plateau had seen that night flew through the sky. No one saw where it hit or who it hit, the only thing they knew was that it was loud, bright, and they could feel the energy coming from it when it touched down.

When everyone could finally see they found a horrifying sight before them. The Master Emerald had been shattered for the fourth time, the mech had been disintegrated, and both Sonic and Shadow were missing.

Not a sound could be heard for thousands of miles in either direction.

For the first time…

There was a Silent Mobius.


	3. Frozen Hell

**_**

**"The risk of wrong decisions is preferable to the terror or indecision."  
>~Maimonides~<br>_**

**Chapter 3: Frozen Hell**

Cold…

That was the first thing Shadow felt when he finally was able to feel anything at all, the unending bite of the frozen air around him. As his senses started to return he realized that the air wasn't just cold, but so was the ground beneath him. He had no clue where he was, and that moment wished he was somewhere a lot warmer than the frozen ground he was on.

When he finally opened his eyes he could see that he was in the middle of a raging blizzard and that for as far as he could see there was nothing but snow covering every inch of the ground. At one point he swore that he could see something far off in the distance, but he figured that it was just his eyes playing tricks on him. The only real thing he could be grateful for at this point was the fact that night was about to fall, and that meant he wouldn't have to worry about the sun reflecting off of the snow so much as to cause him snow blindness.

He didn't want to move for fear of inflicting more pain from the injuries he had sustained, and quite honestly it was either move or freeze. As he began to assess his situation he decided to ultimately get himself up off the ground, rolling himself over on his belly so he could use his arms to push himself upright. It almost seemed like he was going to fail at first since he felt like a rag doll, his body telling him that he needed to stay and rest. Against his bodily wishes though he slowly began to adjust himself and used what physical strength he had left to get on his knees. He wasn't on them for very long either as the ground beneath him turned out to be solid ice masquerading as snow, causing him to slip and land on his back, "Damn."

Shadow tried once again to get up from the ground, rolling over just as he did before, and instead of getting up on his knees he planted his feet in the right position so he would be able to effectively stand up. He counted to himself, "Alright, 1… 2… 3, ooooooooo-k." The ebony hedgehog managed to fight through the pain and at last get upon his feet, struggling at first, eventually standing up with enough balance that he didn't feel any pain at all. In fact if he didn't know any better he would say that the blizzard and the freezing temperatures were to thank for that since his body was starting to go numb.

He tried to summon up what chaos energy he had left, not to use his abilities, but more or less to see if he could very well use it to keep himself warm so he wouldn't freeze to death. He knew that whatever abilities he could use would be useless, so trying to use his chaos energy to try something else for a change might help in the long run. The only problem with trying to do this was how dangerously low his chaos energy was, and how sparingly he would have to use it. For the moment though it looked as if his idea, as simple as it seemed to be, was slowly working and the energy that was being used seemed to be very miniscule.

"W-wh-w-where am I? Wha-what in the ni-nine chaos hells i-is this p-p-place?" The hedgehog began to silently mumble to himself, wondering if maybe he was alone. Alone… for just a moment he had almost forgotten that his rival was missing. He figured that the hedgehog would be around the area or at the very least right next to him since that's where he was when that bright flash came down from the sky.

The snow covered banks, and the blizzard didn't help his vision much as Shadow began to search from the spot he had just risen from. He knew that he could search in that particular spot since it didn't take much to even do so, and it would be a whole hell of a lot easier. On the other hand he didn't want to move, though if he didn't get his blood flowing then he would be a frozen hedgehog on a stick, and I'm pretty sure someone would eat him in the real world if they ever got their hands on him.

Without much choice at all Shadow moved forward, trudging through the snow at a slow but steady rate. He didn't want to call out for Sonic because he had no idea where exactly he was, and if a predator were nearby that he didn't know about then he would be screwed, figuratively not literally. At one point when he looked up to search for him he thought he could see something in the distance for a second, when he took a second look though it was gone, as if the blizzard were playing tricks on him.

"I swear if that hedgehog is playing with me then he'll have more problems than just the blizzard." It wasn't like Sonic to let someone suffer and play tricks on people as he watched. In fact it was the other way around, the hedgehog always seemed to help people out when they were in need. If this didn't qualify as a need then he didn't know what would.

Just as he was about to move forward once more his peripheral vision caught sight of something moving. He quickly turned his head to where he saw the movement and swore that had had indeed saw something, yet it disappeared yet again. Then out of nowhere he started to hear small crunching noises as if someone were walking through the snow. The only problem was these crunching noises were definitely a lot louder which suggested that it whatever or whoever it was just happened to be a lot larger than Sonic.

When the steps started getting louder he knew they were close by, and when he turned around he was greeted with a large shadowed figure in the distance. The figure stopped dead in their tracks when Shadow turned to face them. From here the hedgehog could only see that it was hunched over, standing on two legs, and his suspicions about it being large had been right. He also took note that the sheer size and mass of whatever was in front of him could easily crush him in a physical fight, "Perfect, I'm out in the middle of nowhere with Quasimodo following me."

With his chaos energy keeping him slightly warm he had a choice to make, "Either I can stay warm and walk away from this, or I can use my energy to defend myself… swell." Without much choice at all the ebony hedgehog slowly started to back up, taking slow and short steps away from the creature. This seemed to be the worst course of action since the hulking figure started to growl in disapproval. It didn't take long before it began to match the pace of Shadow as if it were stalking its prey just before it were to become a meal. The hedgehog knew that at any moment if he screwed up then the creature would assume he was doing something that would probably hurt it, and he really didn't need that at this point.

The blizzard that was slightly blinding him from seeing anything on the ground for more than a few feet was also covering up what was behind him, and it wasn't like he could do anything about it. When he took another step back his foot met a rock that was too close and he fell over into the ground. He got more than he bargained for when he made the decision to walk away because he didn't land on the ground and instead began to fall through the air for a few seconds.

To him it seemed that he fell for eternity, but eventually he hit the side of the mountain he had just fallen off of, sliding down through trees and other rocks that jutted out form the mountain face. If he had never played Sonic Pinball before he was playing it now. He could feel the pain of making the wrong choice as one of his arms bounced off a tree, dislocating almost immediately and creating more pain than he needed.

For a moment he thought he had gotten away from the creature… that is up until he caught a glimpse of it running down the hill. He finally saw that it had white fur; its figure seemed to match that of an oversized Arctic White Wolf or Russian Bloodhound on two legs. As it landed on the side of the mountain, it managed to get a fairly good grip; it bolted towards Shadow faster than he was sliding down.

Just when he thought things could get any worse he began to roll, the snow clumping up into his quills became so much that he was becoming a giant Mobian snowball. The last thing he saw before he became encased in the giant snowball was another cliff, and then nothing but an ice covered ocean a few hundred feet below. However he did manage to see that the cliff had just enough to create a flat ledge, and knew he had to stop either at that mark or just before it so he could live.

The snowball he was becoming encased in was getting larger and larger, the first layers of it starting to form a thin ice. Shadow had to act quickly because if he didn't then he would probably be the first Mobian to perish in a naturally formed ice coffin. He knew he had only one option available to him at that time, he had to use his chaos abilities. It would be very painful since he still had a dislocated arm, but he would have to deal with that when the time came. He took the energy he was using to keep his body temperature up and compressed it, trying to use a little as possible so that he had at least some sort of reserve to keep himself stable and upright. The more he forced the energy inside of him to become smaller and smaller, the greater the potency would be, and when he felt as if he had enough compression he would release it.

The white wolf like creature sped down the slope, catching up to Shadow in his Mobian snowball. It had food right in its sights, and if it didn't act just as quickly as the Ultimate Life-form then it would have to find a new source of food for that night. It decided to make one last leap to try and stop him before he went over the edge, but got a nice surprise instead.

The hedgehog closed his eyes, his focus on the energy apparently at its maximum. He envisioned the snow and ice around him exploding in a shower of torrential shards, projectiles that he had hoped would strike the beast that was following him. He saw in his mind exactly what he needed to do, planning his stop at the right moment, and at the right position. As he rolled he felt the gravity around him shift constantly which made his planning that much more difficult, but it helped to discern which way was up so that when he did get out of there he knew which side of his body he would be breaking if he landed the wrong way.

"Chaos…" That small point of energy he had compacted began to glow inside of him, flourishing into something greater, "… BLAST!" That small amount of compressed energy turned into a wave of destruction, pressing into the walls of the ice and snow. It had been just enough to cause the shower of ice that he had been looking for. What he didn't expect was the white creature to be so close, and when that explosion had happened the wolf apparently got more than it bargained for.

Before he could even begin to relax he turned to find himself falling towards the cliff, "Oh… shi…" before he could even finish that he had crashed into the ground. His momentum generated by the blast caused him to continue rolling, and it was faster than when he had started. Just as he thought he could get his footing, he went over the edge of the cliff. In a last ditch effort he held his arm out just before he went over and managed to catch on to the edge.

"Perfect." Was all he could say at that moment. He had a dislocated arm, his chaos energy was practically next to nothing, and he was dead tired. Shadow still tried to get onto the ledge, swinging back and forth up until he could get a foothold. It was a well thought out plan, and the amount of effort it took was incredible, but somehow his body allowed him to react the way it did.

When he got his foot up, allowing him to use what momentum and strength he had left to get himself up on the cliff, he saw just how badly injured the wolf was. It was quite impressive really, the chaos blast had more than just propelled the ice, but since the white creature was so close it caught the blast of chaos energy, singing it. He couldn't even begin to know just how close the wolf was to death, but at this point he didn't care because his body was so beat up that he felt as if he couldn't move on.

"I think I'll stop… right… here." Shadow collapsed onto his knees, resting himself for a few moments. If he didn't find any shelter soon then the blizzard would make him into a Popsicle. If he could use his energy to keep himself warm he would, but about the most he could do with it right now was keep his body together.

He looked at his dislocated right arm, pain still shooting from it. Right when he was about to grab his wrist to pull his arm he decided to take one of his gloves off so he could bite down into it since it was definitely going to be a hell of a lot more painful when he would reinsert it then when it had dislocated from the tree. The Ultimate Life-form was ready, taking hold of his wrist and closing his eyes while he silently counted down, "3… 2… 1…" without any hesitation at all he pulled his arm hard enough to hear a loud pop; the arm had been placed back into its socket.

"AGH! DAMMIT!" He wanted to just fall over into the snow at that point, the sheer pain coupled with his body being tired were strong. His true resilience began to show at this point as Shadow got up off the ground and searched for a viable place to take shelter for the night.

The blizzard, still throwing ice into his face and nipping at him with its wind chill, had once again made things harder. He had to trudge along the side of the cliff to see if there was anything within a slight walk that would help in getting him out of this frozen wasteland. If he had actually found shelter, then he would have to think about how to keep himself warm, the thought of using his chaos energy came into play, and he knew that if he were to rest he would gain some amount of energy back but didn't know how much if he was constantly using it. He decided to take yet another risky chance, deciding to use just a small amount so he wouldn't freeze, allowing him the comfort of at least lasting through the first night in what felt like a frozen tundra.

As the world around him slightly darkened he could see that there was a light in the sky, a moon piercing through the blizzard with its pale glow, "At least this place has a moon." It was actually a good thing too because he didn't know what he would do if it were completely dark. The thought of taking a step and having it be his last didn't really set in too well with the hedgehog, making him even more cautious then he was.

To make matters worse something called out in the night air. It sounded like a large howl. If Shadow didn't know any better he would say that the wolf he had put down earlier had been found by one of its own. That meant he had to move fast because he now had another problem… he was up wind of where he had started, which meant his scent would be rampant in the air, and he had to find someplace to rest before that predator caught on.

The ebony hedgehog picked up his pace, and in a short amount of time he could see a dark spot in the side of the mountain. As he ran over to that point he could see that it was a cave which could shelter him from the wind, and would be more than perfect for the night. What he didn't know was if there was anything inside of it, "I hate taking blind chances, but it's not like I have any choice." He entered the cave, walking into it with only the moon to guide him up until he had to use the walls to navigate.

It actually felt a lot bigger than it looked, he got this feeling when his quills no longer touched the ceiling giving the indication that it had gone up just a bit. He figured that if he went too far into the cave then he would run into something that he would regret finding. When his hand moved downwards to the floor to see if it was ok to sleep on he noticed that the ground in the area he was in wasn't all that cold at all. It might have been partially due to fact that it wasn't directly in the way of the wind, but he had to admit that it was still weird.

The ground didn't make for much of a bed, but he found that if he slept up against the wall he could at least rest his head upon something. The small amounts of pebbles didn't help, and he eventually got up to brush the area so that no matter what he wouldn't have to deal with anything but the wall. When he was satisfied with the area, as if he could really see anything at all anyway without the moon or a fire nearby, he laid down once more finding that he had done a halfway decent job of getting rid of the small stuff.

When Shadow's body finally rested in a good position he slowly drifted off to sleep. The only thing that decided to even remotely wake him from his slumber were the sounds of howling far off in the distance.

Shadow knew he had to find a way out of this place...

This Frozen Hell.


	4. Face to Face

**"The only thing you can truly believe… is what you see with your own eyes."**  
><strong>~Mathias Alrond Silvers<strong>

**Chapter 4: Face to Face in Reality**

"It seems as if he's at peace. Can he really be that way while he's like this?"

Shadow wasn't breathing regular air, for some reason it seemed… stale. He could barely open his eyes, and his body just didn't feel right at all. If he didn't know any better he felt almost as if he was floating instead of lying down on the ground of the cave he was in. His senses, except his hearing, were practically useless. About the only thing he could do was listen in on what was being said, and try his hardest to figure out what it was they were saying.

"Oh I'm very sure he's at peace, because if he wasn't then we would never be here, and all of this would be for naught. Although he seems to be more tired than at peace, maybe we should leave him be for now." The person speaking was experienced, almost too experienced to know that he was tired.

'Man. Age? Unknown. Race? Unknown. Other notable features? None to describe.' The Ultimate Life-form was running through his usual G.U.N. capture procedures, discerning what and who was around him. It seemed a little weird at first, the voices sounded muffled.

When you're an agent of a government organization you learn to listen for many distinct things. You learn whether or not a slight click can mean a slide mechanism on a gun is engaging, a makeshift booby trap has just been tripped, or a pressure plate attached to a bomb is pressed. Right now though the sounds coming from the two people talking sounded as if they were being filtered, and seeing as how Shadow couldn't feel anything he didn't know what could be filtering it at this point.

"Awww, but I wanted to stay here and watch him, he looks like he would be lonely without company. Why can't I do that?!" There was a definite familiarity of the voice. It seemed like this person knew him. He couldn't place it since it was slightly distorted, but for some reason he thought he knew the voice.

'Female. Age? Unknown. Race? Unknown. Other notable features? Nothing as of yet.' His training was his best line of defense right now, and it kept him at ease.

"He needs to rest. He's been through a lot in the past few days, and he's most likely in pain right now. In due time he'll be up and about, trust me I will make sure that will happen for all of us… for all of them." This person sounded very sure of himself, almost as if he knew how long the process of whatever they were putting him through wouldn't take long.

There were the slight sounds of shuffling, possibly feet moving around. As the ebony hedgehog kept listening he heard only one set of steps, which meant that the other person that was watching him had stayed close by. The next sounds he heard were the opening and closing of a set of electronic doors, heavy set, probably for protection against whatever would come in should the room be needed in a hurry.

There were no more sounds from the room after the doors closed. That probably meant that whoever was watching him was doing so quite diligently, and for what purpose he didn't know as of yet. To him it seemed a little freaky, either the person was moving in such a manner that he was freakishly silent in his movements, or he was acting just like Amy was with Sonic… pure stalker.

"I can't believe you got this way. You're a good hedgehog Shadow, but you're just not good enough to go that far. If only your blind eyes could see what others cannot. In the near future you're going to have to make decisions you won't like, and there will always be that one decision that will probably end your existence as you may know it. For now you need to listen to everything around you, only then will you truly understand why you were given not just your abilities…" The person stepped forward, apparently placing his hand on some type of container near the hedgehog, "…but everything else you were given from the start. You may not think you have them, but in time you will see that they were just hidden."

The person silently moved over to a console and quite possibly pushed a button because whatever he was floating in was draining away, and he could hear sirens going off. His skin started to burn, sharp pains began to ripple through his body as he felt cables or hoses rip away from them. He could tell he was being lowered to the ground, but he couldn't get up, his strength still hadn't returned to him.

The silent steps of his new stalker could be heard walking towards him, getting within a distance of more than a foot at most. The ruffling of clothing told him that he had bent over, and that was apparent when he felt a hand upon his shoulder and speak softly, "Pay no mind to the battles you've won, because it'll take a lot more than rage and muscle."

The voice was most definitely familiar, but Shadow still couldn't place it. He decided to try to open his eyes, but in doing so he blinded himself from the sheer intensity of the lights around him. The only thing he could note was the figure in front of him was wearing white.

"Remember…"

That voice… if only he could remember who it was.

"Open your heart..."

'Wait a second, that's… it… it can't be.'

"… and most definitely open your hands…"

Shadow knew who it was, he couldn't believe it, but he knew exactly who it was.

"… my son."

After that the figure grabbed hold of the last cable, and ripped it clean off the hedgehog causing so much pain that the Ultimate Life-form blacked out.

The hedgehog slowly opened his eyes, pain still shooting through his body. He couldn't understand why he was feeling pain until he realized that he had been laying in an awkward manner on top of small stones. The most notable pain was the pain created by the person in his nightmare after pulling the last cable.

"Ugh, those nightmares still haven't left me. When this is all over I think I'm going to go see the shrink and win that bet against Rouge." He began to rub the back of his head and slowly got up. As soon as he started moving though he realized that the air was extremely cold, for right now he would enjoy it until he would have to use his chaos energy when he would be ready to leave the cave.

He did have a slight problem though… the use of his chaos energy. The main reason this became a problem was because he was using his chaos energy while he was asleep so that he would stay warm. This meant that he wouldn't be able to use his energy while he was resting, which also meant that if he collapsed or couldn't find a suitable place to stay warm then he would perish, and that didn't sit too well with him.

The moment he fully stood upright the air in the cave started to grow even colder, and he was now forced to use his chaos energy just so that his limbs wouldn't grow stiff. He now had a choice before him, either he could stay in the cave and let the storm outside die down, or he could go out into the storm and rough it out trying to find someone or something in this frozen wasteland that could help him get out of it.

"So it's either freeze in the cave and waste time, or freeze faster out there while using more chaos energy, but in turn find salvation from this hell hole." It really was a complicated question in terms of a survival situation, and one that G.U.N. rarely ever did a scenario on. Sure every agent went through military grade SEAR training in a facility in the far north, but it was not a requirement to pass it to become an agent. Luckily Shadow was once such agent who had managed to pass with flying colors.

As soon as he started thinking about how he would be able to survive if he went over his training he thought about Sonic. He still hadn't seen the hero, and knew that he didn't have any type of training at all… unless you consider the countless battles against Eggman in the many different types of terrain that their battles were fought on. This didn't really create a dilemma for the ultimate life-form, it merely made him continue on with his original plan to get the hell out of there, and it would take a lot longer.

Shadow took a step towards the front of the cave and noticed that for some reason the light was fading from the sky. This could mean one of two things, either his body needed much more rest then he thought it did or wherever he was had short days and long nights. The one good grace he had was the moon, as it was as bright as ever, and shining through the blizzard.

"Oh isn't this just swell, I get to keep myself warm with my own energy today… again." The hedgehog closed his eyes and began to try and summon just the right amount of chaos energy to start keeping himself warm. He knew that it would take a lot of concentration to keep it steady, but he didn't really have a choice at this point.

He figured that if he did the same thing he did yesterday with the white bi-pedal wolf he put down, and compressed the energy, then he would be able to have a backup defensive strategy. In compressing the energy though he realized that if he used just a bit more he would be able to not only have a trick up his quills, but he was able to be a lot warmer than before. At this point he knew it felt better to be in a comfortable position, than again a little extra energy could go a long way, and he decided against it to save it for his reserves.

The blizzard was still raging just as it had been last night. He could see slightly farther than before, but at least snow blindness wouldn't be a factor tonight. If he could find Sonic, then maybe he could form a much better plan, and hopefully one that included getting the hell out of this place.

Shadow began to walk back the way he came so as to see if he could find the white wolf. If he could drag it back to the cave, then he would have a source of food, and after skinning it he would have either a nice cloak or blanket to keep him warm. He knew it was going to take a lot of grueling work to do all of this, but it was survival. As they say, 'Survival of the fittest." Of course that was usually relevant in the case of evolution, but it works in this case.

The footsteps he had created last night were gone, as if that were a surprise to him at all. He used his natural instincts to gather his bearing, knowing that there was a cliff to his left that would lead several hundred feet to certain disfigurement or death. That was something he just couldn't shake from his mind, even after last night's events. It wasn't that he was scared of taking that wrong step; it was the fact that he just didn't like not knowing what was going to happen next.

As he trotted along he could hear the faint sounds of howling in the wind, and this put his quills on end. A predator was out tonight, and that meant that he could very well be possible prey to the hunter. If it had had even half the skills of the last predator that tried to attack him then it would still have the advantage. The only advantages the hedgehog had at this point was the compressed energy, and the fact that he was walking into the blizzard.

The howling just happened to be coming from in front of him, so at least his scent wasn't picked up yet. Shadow on the other hand was able to pick up the faint smell of… well… some sort of odor, but he couldn't figure out what yet. He decided that it was probably the smell of a dead carcass left out to rot once it was fed upon; at least that's what he was hoping for.

He crossed his arms as he continued on, keeping an eye on his surroundings in the case that something were to come out of the shadows. If anything were to come out of the shadows though, he hoped it would be Sonic. He actually still couldn't believe that he was hoping for the blue hero to come around at this point, not because he cared about him like that, but because he didn't want to be alone. Even the strongest need contact with other people, and if you take that away then you would see an entirely different person altogether.

"Where the hell is this damn wolf or Sonic for that matter?" He stopped for a moment and listened to the air for anything out of the ordinary. There wasn't any howling, any footsteps, or movement of any kind for that matter. The only sounds he could hear were the sounds of avalanches, and the blizzard itself.

Just as he opened his eyes and took another step it felt as if he missed a step. He did hit ground, but a few inches deeper than where he was originally standing. He caught himself and his head naturally looked down, and his investigative G.U.N. skills took over, "Wide tracks? Too big to be from any known form of vehicle to date unless Eggman was around here somewhere with a transformable mech. However these look as if someone was dragged. Most likely from the wolf I had encountered from yesterday. The blood here is frozen, guess it would help if I knew what kind of blood came from… the… wolf."

A horrible thought came to his mind… what if the body that was dragged was Sonic's?

"Dammit. Don't tell me I'm going to have to save his blue ass if he was the one dragged away."

"DON'T TELL ME YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE SONIC WENT MILES PROWER! YOU'RE THE GENIOUS! WHERE IS HE AT THEN!?" Amy was on a rampage, and just wouldn't shut up. If there was one thing she hated it was not knowing where Sonic was, and it irritated the hell out of everyone.

Tails was deep in the rubble of the house he used to call home with his friend. He was looking for one of his gadgets that he had been experimenting with on the two Chaos Emeralds they had. He figured that if he could find a hint of the chaos energy on the plateau he would be able to figure out what happened, or at least gather an educated guess.

Just as he was about to pick up something a pile of rubble became decimated, Knuckles punched through the bottom of it, showering parts and broken gadgets everywhere. There was a slight smug smile on his face since he practically just broke through a nearly three tons of rubble, but that was short lived when Tails glared at him, "Some treasure hunter you turned out to be. I'll be lucky to find anything useful after your destruction."

Rouge was actually quite surprised that the kitsune was capable of such a verbal comment. It almost felt like he was reading her mind or she was rubbing off on him. In either case she was impressed that he would say such a thing to Knuckles, and the Guardian usually didn't take verbal abuse like that from anyone… except Rouge of course.

The echidna could only stare and drop his arms to his side, one of his eyes twitching, "I don't believe it. I just got verbally bitch slapped by Tails." He slowly walked over while glaring at the two tailed, young scientist. His eyes showing the intent that he was about to beat the hell out of the fox.

He couldn't believe he had just said what he had just said, and when Knuckles starting coming at him he fumbled with his words, "I… um… I mean… t-that… well… you know… you should search… I mean… um.,," He closed his eyes as the Guardian stopped in front of him, "I-I'm sor…" The next thing he felt was a gloved Echidna hand ruffling the hair on his head.

"I'll be damned, you do actually have a pair on you don'tcha Tails? Don't let that remark go to your head, but damn that was the most cold hearted thing I've ever heard you say before. Nicely done kid… I mean… nicely done there Miles." It was the first time Knuckles gave him a compliment. He couldn't believe he was doing it, but Tails deserved it after what he just did.

Amy walked up to the both of them, speaking through her teeth, "Unless you two are actively trying to find Sonic… HURRY UP AND MOVE!" In an instant it was as if there wasn't even an echidna or kitsune anywhere near her, their bodies back into the rubble to search for whatever it was they were searching for in the first place. If she had lightning fast reflexes then she would've had them by their fur long enough for them to realize she meant business.

Just when she was about to delve into the piles of crap littered throughout the ground level of the house, she heard a noise. Rouge and Knuckles ears perked up when they heard it as well, and they all walked over to the muffling sounds of Tails. He had jumped into a particular pile and left his legs wiggling about in the air. It almost sounded as if he was screaming. Knuckles, in his sick and twisted train of thought, took a gloved finger and gently pushed Tails' foot so that he fell into the pile.

The crunching sound of other gadgets filled the air when the fox landed on them. In a split second he threw his hand up in the air from behind the piles of junk, with him obviously still on the ground, with the gadget he had been looking for, "I GOT IT!" He sprung up, scaring everyone, and began to fumble with the device, "And… the power is still good on it! YES!"

"So does that mean you can find Sonic?" Amy put her hands together and gave a slight smile.

"Not really Amy, first I have a viable object that was affected by chaos energy from the emeralds." Tails began to move about, trying to get out of the even bigger mess they made. As soon as he was about to go up to the plateau he stopped and stared at the screen, tilting his head.

The pink, hormonal ball of fur began smashing things in the rubble, cursing the fact that she couldn't see Sonic. More importantly the fact that she didn't do a damn thing while after she had been knocked away by the mech that took her crush away. If she had been a little faster then she thought she could've prevented it, or at the very least been with him… where ever he was.

"UGH! WHERE IS MY SONIC!? WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE HIM!? WHY!? WHY!? WHY DID THIS HAV-"

"Oh shut up already! You're not helping me or anyone else for that matter. If you want to help out then either shut the hell up, or go the hell home. Don't even say this is your home either. It was both Sonic's and mine. You don't even come into this equation, and will never in this life or the next!" For the first time Tails snapped, he was sick and tired of hearing Amy talk. If there was one thing he really wanted at this point it was for Amy to leave Sonic alone, and he hoped she finally got that through her thick skull.

Knuckles walked over to Tails and looked at the screen, hoping to get the scientist's mind off of what he had just said, "So what did this thing find there Miles?" The echidna promised himself that he would never screw with the fox again, because he had a new found respect for him, and that's not something easily earned by him at all.

The screen began to show light waves, converging on a point just behind Rouge and Amy, "Well, if I'm reading this right… Shadow, or what I think is Shadow… is standing right behind you two."

"How is that possible?" Rouge was astounded, watching the kitsune walk past all three of them to the spot he was talking about.

He tried to think of a way to explain it to them, "Take the internet for example. You do know about the internet… right Knuckles?" To which the echidna gave a glare at the sarcastic scientist, "In order to get onto the internet you need an IP. An IP can be either Static or Dynamic. Static means you have the same IP all the time, and Dynamic means you are always changing IP's."

Each of them still didn't understand while he was stating this, "Chaos Energy is invisible, but in rare instances when enough energy is gathered at a point it becomes light. Now, if you apply the same idea of an IP to Chaos Energy then it's simple."

"Um… Tails, are you saying what I think you're saying?" Knuckles face went into a face of fear after he heard all of this.

The scientist looked over at Knuckles, "I take it you know exactly what I'm getting at?"

The Guardian walked over and stood right next to him, "Yeah, the power of the chaos gods. It's said that anyone who comes in contact with this power is phased out of this world. It's not necessarily a parallel universe, but it's definitely a Dynamic one, always changing. What we feel as warmth out here is drastically cold to them. We have no wind, and it's raining. In their phased version it's snowing, and the wind would be horrible… a blizzard that would chill you beyond your wildest dreams. The guardians before me had a name for this power, and it's name meant as it stated, only obtained and used for those that wished vengeance. When I became a guardian it was drilled into my head over and over in my dreams. They called this power 'The Unforgiving Light.'"

As everyone muddled over what Knuckles said, no one realized that another phased figure was standing off in the distance. The figure was in such a position that it would look like both he and Shadow were staring at each other. The phased figure walked up to Shadow to the point of which it seemed like their noses were just barely touching.

It took a moment for anyone to even notice that the gadget was registering said figure, but they watched as it showed the new figure standing silently in the wake of the G.U.N. Agent. No one knew if they were actually in the same place, at the same time. The only thing they could say for sure at this point...

… they were face to face in their own twisted reality.


End file.
